BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS / DAY 6 : AND NOW A WORD FROM THEIR SPONSOR

The lights went down, the speaker system boomed and the film rolled. Children jumped and ran in slow motion with Eiffel Towers, Great Walls and great beaches as the backdrop. And then, the Nike flag.

Introducing Team Nike.

More specifically, the Nike Athletics Team, starring Hollis Conway, Quincy Watts, PattiSue Plummer and about a half-dozen others. Missing from action was headliner and reigning 200-meter champion Michael Johnson.

Nike, one of the few corporations here not sponsoring the Olympics, invited the media to its International Headquarters Thursday, ostensibly to interview its stable of endorsers. The media and assorted friends of Nike sat in the plush seats, looking up to a stage backed by a wall of black curtains.

“Hollis Conway, high jumper,” intoned Master of Ceremonies/Director of Marketing Steve Miller, as Conway parted the curtains to walk to center stage.

One by one, they were announced, each introduced by country, event and personal best. When the roll call was complete, Team Nike stepped forward, dressed in identical outfits, for a team picture. Minus one.

Johnson, the star of the show, who undoubtedly drew much of the crowd of media, never showed.

“Well, you understand,” Miller said. “These are the Olympics and the schedule is tough.”

Oh.

* This a daily roundup of Olympic-related items from reporters in Barcelona from the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, Baltimore Sun and Hartford Courant, all Times-Mirror newspapers.